New Non Invasive Test For Detection Of Tumors Of The Colon Is More Accurate Than Previously Used

New Non Invasive Test For Detection Of Tumors Of The Colon Is More Accurate Than Previously Used.
A fresh noninvasive assess to locate pre-cancerous polyps and colon tumors appears to be more accurate than tendency noninvasive tests such as the fecal occult blood test, Mayo clinic researchers say. The quest for a highly accurate, noninvasive alternative to invasive screens such as colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy is a "Holy Grail" of colon cancer research. In a precedence trial, the new examine was able to identify 64 percent of pre-cancerous polyps and 85 percent of full-blown cancers, the researchers reported.

Dr Floriano Marchetti, an aide-de-camp professor of clinical surgery in the division of colon and rectal surgery at University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the brand-new evaluation could be an important adjunct to colon cancer screening if it proves itself in further study. "Obviously, these findings fundamental to be replicated on a larger scale. Hopefully, this is a good start for a more reliable test".

Dr Durado Brooks, chief of colorectal cancer at the American Cancer Society, agreed. "These findings are interesting. They will be more engaging if we ever get this kind of data in a screening population".

The study's lead researcher remained optimistic. "There are 150000 renewed cases of colon cancer each year in the United States, treated at an estimated fetch of $14 billion," noted Dr David A Ahlquist, professor of pharmaceutical and a consultant in gastroenterology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "The fancy is to eradicate colon cancer altogether and the most realistic approach to getting there is screening. And screening not only in a modus vivendi that would not only detect cancer, but pre-cancer. Our test takes us closer to that dream".

Ahlquist was scheduled to announce the findings of the study Thursday in Philadelphia at a meeting on colorectal cancer sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research. The recent technology, called the Cologuard sDNA test, mill by identifying specific altered DNA in cells shed by pre-cancerous or cancerous polyps into the patient's stool.

If a DNA distortion is found, a colonoscopy would still be needed to confirm the results, just as happens now after a supportive fecal occult blood test (FOBT) result. To see whether the test was effective, Ahlquist's crew tried it out on more than 1100 frozen stool samples from patients with and without colorectal cancer.

The assay was able to detect 85,3 percent of colorectal cancers and 63,8 percent of polyps bigger than 1 centimeter. Polyps this immensity are considered pre-cancers and most likely to progress to cancer.

The appreciativeness of the test is much better than what has been seen in other stool screening tests, the ACS' Brooks added. "But, showing that in a meagre group of samples is very different from demonstrating that in a population where only a small number of individuals are going to have polyps of that size. Then we will cognizant of if this is a big step forward".

According to Ahlquist, Cologuard is the first noninvasive investigation to detect pre-cancerous polyps. In addition, the test is the only one that is able to identify cancer in all locations throughout the colon, something which other tests either can't or don't do well. One more advantage: patients do not difficulty to do any different preparation before taking the test, something that other tests require.

Ahlquist noted that the test still needs to be refined. "We au fait there are still some bugs and we can make the test even better". Cologuard is not yet available for sale. Clinical trials comparing the check-up with colonoscopy are slated to start next year. Ahlquist hopes that the test will be approved and ready within two years.

Ahlquist noted that the cost of the test has not yet been established. It is expected to expenditure more than a fecal occult blood test, but far less than a colonoscopy. A fecal occult blood examination can cost as little as $23 while a colonoscopy can total $700.

Another benefit is that it would probably need to be done once every three years, while the fecal incomprehensible blood test is usually done yearly. Savings over time on a more spot on test done fewer times could justify the higher cost of the Cologuard test. In two other presentations at the meeting, researchers have linked main gene variants to the risk for colon cancer and also to the prognostication of the disease.

In one study, researchers found that people who have long telomeres, the small strips of DNA that take in the ends of chromosomes, have a 30 percent increased risk of developing colon cancer. "Even for family their age, their telomeres were longer than you'd expect for healthy people," potential researcher Dr Lisa A Boardman, an associate professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, said in a statement. "This suggests that there may be two manifold mechanisms that affect telomere term and that set up susceptibility to cancer".

In the other study, a research team led by Kim M Smits, a molecular biologist and epidemiologist in the GROW-School for Oncology and Developmental Biology at Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands, uncovered a shock when it came to a gene variation on the KRAS gene called the G variant. This variant, yearn linked to poorer outcomes in advanced colorectal cancer, indeed predicted a better prognosis in early-stage colon cancer. "You would intuitively think that the G alternative would be associated with a poorer prognosis, as it is in late-stage colorectal cancer, but that is not the case," Smits said in a statement vimax-club. Experts decimal point out that studies presented at scientific meetings do not have to pass the rigorous peer notice of studies published in reputable journals.